Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2010)
The Governor's |i race: who will A win? JP Savory wanted to play football, but ended up playing futbol. — page 6 Published Since 1921 Zombie Apcoalypse lures viewers with enticing _ Mr^ • __page 13 -—page 10 Official Student Publication of West Linn High School October 2010 - Volume 99, issue 1 High school joins forces with community to combat underage drinking and drug use J ennifer S itton ___________ For years WLHS and other surrounding schools have attempted to combat the underground world of underage drinking and drug use. Recently, a group of dedicated community members have joined forces with school officials to bring this topic above ground, through a newly created Community Task Force. "This is a community problem and not just in the schools," Julie Edwards, CTF creator, co-chair and parent, said. "There is a lack of awareness and discussion, so it is my hope that through the CTF our community can gain a better understanding of the serious issues around us." Community members have watched this problem grow for years, unacknowledged. According to Edwards, nearly 60% of high school students either drink illegally or do drugs such as prescription drugs, marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Some teens attend parties at which they toss random prescription drugs into a bowl, reach in and take whatever pills they grab. Because various prescription drugs can often be accessed from home medicine cabinets and the underground market, this issue is becoming more prevalent. However, this is not a problem only at WLHS, it seems to be a generational epidemic according to Edwards. School security modeled after past experience M ary E arp The disappearance o f K yron H orm an has p r o m p t e d P o r tla n d schools to change its "W hen a student m isses one or m ore periods in a day there is an autom ated system that calls hom e to notify the parent or guardian, as w ell as e-m ail Photo by Patrick Douglas Officer Mike Francis, school resource officer, works with the administration to defer drugs on campus and works with traffic safety. Francis, along with many other members of the staff, try their best to create a safe school environment. security system s. W ith new autom atic dialer system s, personal calls to parents w hen children are absent and new crisis response team s, students at W est Linn m ay ask how secure are w e? "A nything m ajor happening alw ays prom pts discussion for security," Rob H olstrom , assistant principal, said. "We alw ays try to be safe.” The school already had in place m any of the sam e security m easures that Portland schools have recently im plem ented such as an autom atic caller. the guardians directly," A shley N elson, attendance secretary, said. A n Em ergency Response Team (ERT) com prised of 11 m em bers w ho deal w ith student health issues and various other problem s is also in place. The school tries its best to m ake students feel safe, and according to students, they succeed. "Everyone at the school is responsible for security," M ike Francis, school resource officer, said. "The ultim ate goal is to have an environm ent that is safe and supports our m ission to provide the best educational experience w e can." "I personally feel safe in the school," A lec N akano, sophom ore, said. "I feel like I can put m y belongings anyw here, and enter the school w ithout w orry that I w on't be safe." A ll visitors at W LH S are required to sign in and show a visitor's pass w hile on school property. If a teacher has a guest in the classroom , he or she is supposed to inform the adm inistration beforehand. A lthough the school has m any policies such as these according to H olstrom , there is m uch freedom around the school because of the age of the students and the respect that the adm inistration has for them. "This is different from an elem entary school," H olstrom said. "It's not quite the sam e. The security isn't as high." This year, the school has published new crisis books, w hich inform teachers about em ergency procedures including fire drills and health em ergencies. The school evaluates its security plans yearly. A ccording to H olstrom , if som ething m ajor happens, another evaluation of security m ight be necessary. "So m uch of life can never be w ritten into a script to prepare for," H olstrom said. "There is alw ays som ething that rew rites the book." "We're not unique as a high school to have this drug problem," Lou Bailey, principal, said. "However, this is not solely a school issue. We can't solve this problem unless we have support from parents." This support is beginning to take shape in the form of the CTF, as well as the addition of a parent advocate group that will help parents obtain current information and communicate with each other. The main goals of the CTF are education and awareness. The team includes Dr. Andrew Mendenhall, who specializes in addictions, school resource officer Mike Francis, representatives from the legal community including the DA's office, the City of West Linn, Young Life, Willamette Christian Church as well as Youth Advocates and the WLHS staff. ieiiiiiaifÿ Task Force________ continued on page 2 Three National Merit Scholar finalists named Three seniors, Samantha Ing, Sabrina Levy and Joshua Grelewicz, were recently named National Merit Scholar final ists. The prestigious award is based on students' achievement on the PSAT they took as juniors. Winners were originally notified that they were quarterfinalists before the group was narrowed down to 15,000 finalists nationwide. "We are extremely proud of these incredible students and their dedication to academic success and so much more. We appreciate their commitment to the school and their hard work is officially recognized," Aaron Downs, Assistant Principal, said. "These are not just great students, but they are great members of our community." All three of this year's finalists are academically driven as well as involved in numerous extracurricular activities. While they all share a common work ethic in school, this award meant something different to each winner. U Ì I FEEL VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVi THE OPPORTUNITY AM H ON ORED TO HAVE RECEIVED THIS RECOGNITION, TO W IN M ONEY PARA ESCUELA BUT IT Rf ALLY ONLY REFLECTS DAY AND S a m a n t h a I n g ONE ONE TEST. IT MAKES ME FEEL PRETTY P l u s ., GOOD. S a b r in a levy it m i g h t h e l p ME GET A SCHOLARSHIP. J o s h u a G r e l e w ic z Photo by Alex Houston ■I
